Process for producing synthetic fiber textile materials in pieces or in strips

ABSTRACT

PROCESS FOR MAKING WOVEN, NON-WOVEN AND SKEINS ARTICLES OF SYNTHETIC FIBERS IN PIECES OR IN STRIPS, WHICH ARE BOTH WEAR- AND TEAR-RESISTANT, TEMPERATURE-RESISTANT AND RESISTANT TO PRINTING BY FUSION. THESE CHARACTERISTICS ARE OBTAINED BY TEMPORAILY INTRODUCING INTO THE TEXILE MATERIAL, DURING MANUFACURE OR IMMEDIATELY THEREAFTER, A PLURALITY OF HOT NEEDLES TO CAUSE MELTING AN WELDING OF THE FIBERS AT THE POINTS OF CONTACT. A NUMBER OF NEEDLES MAY BE REMOVED AND SECTIONS OF THE TEXTILE MATERIAL MAY BE REPLACED BY OTHERS, SO AS TO OBTAIN MULTI-COLORED PATTERNS FOR TILES AND SIMILAR DECORATIVE ARTICLES.

Jan. 2, 1973 M. BETTONI PROCE S-S FOR PRODUCING SYNTHE MATERIALS IN PIECES O TIC FIBER TEXTILE R IN STRIPS Filed Avril 15. 1970 United States Patent 3,708,363 PROCESS FOR PRODUCING SYNTHETIC FIBER TEXTILE MATERIALS IN PIECES OR IN STRIPS Michele Bettoni, Isso-Montecolino, Brescia, Italy Filed Apr. 15, 1970, Ser. No. 28,813 Int. Cl. B32b 31/12 US. Cl. 156-148 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Process for, making woven, non-woven and skeins articles of synthetic fibers in pieces or in strips, which are both wearand tear-resistant, temperature-resistant and resistant to printing by fusion. These characteristics are obtained by temporarily introducing into the textile material, during manufacture or immediately thereafter, a plurality of hot needles to cause melting and welding of the fibers at the points of contact. A number of needles may be removed and sections of the textile material may be replaced by others, so as to obtain multi-colored patterns for tiles and similar decorative articles.

The present invention relates to a process for making textile materials such as woven, non-woven and skeins of synthetic fibers in pieces or in strips, intended more particularly for covering floors, ceilings or Walls.

It is known that the materials to be devoted to this use must have high resistance both to wear and tear and also to variations of temperature, so that they may have a long life; furthermore, the materials must have structural characteristics such that they do not appreciably change their characteristics when they are subjected to printing by fusion in order to obtain various designs on the visible surface capable of conferring an ornamental character to the material itself.

For this purpose, the process of the present invention proposes to introduce temporarily into the textile material, during its manufacture or immediately afterwards, a plurality of needles of suitable dimensions and arrangements and suitably supported, the needles being heated to a temperature to cause melting and consequent welding of the fibers of the material which are engaged by said needles. The subsequent extraction of the needles from the material gives rise to the formation of a plurality of small holes caused by the welding together of the melted fibers and constituting reinforced zones which appreciably increase the physical and mechanical properties of the material.

The material treated in this manner can be printed in order to obtain various designs, by melting or fusing predetermined parts of the weave; it may be used in the piece or in strips of any desired shape such as a tile, and these may be combined in a suitable manner for covering floors, walls and ceilings.

Reference is now made to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows in cross-section a needle carrying device for operating the process of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a detail of one of the needles;

FIGS. 3 and 4 show two strips of treated material in the form of tiles, with the visible surfaces covered with ornamental designs obtained by the process;

FIGS. 5 and 6 show the two strips of FIGS. 3 and 4 with portions removed;

FIGS. 7 and 8 show the two strips of FIGS. 5 and 6 with the said portions interchanged; and

FIGS. -9 and 10 show two finished tiles with the parts interchanged.

The process of the present invention introduces into synthetic fiber textile material, woven or non-woven, a

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plurality of needles I mounted, according to a pre-determined arrangement, on a support 2, the lower surface of which has projections 3 reproducing on the assembly, in negative form, ornamental designs or motifs to be printed on the material. These designs may be printed on both sides if required.

According to a feature of the invention, the needles 1 are heated to a suitable temperature, and, according to the type of fiber of the material, in such a manner as to cause, when introduced into the textile material for a pre-determined time, the melting of the fibers and their coagulation and fusing. The extraction of the needles from the material gives rise to the formation of a plurality of small bores or holes defined by the coagulated and Welded fibers between them, with the consequent formation of reinforced zones which may be extended over the entire surface of the material.

According to another feature of the invention, some surfaces of the needle support 2 are also heated so that, upon contact with the surface or surfaces of the material during the introduction of the needles therein, these surfaces melt the fibers with which they are in contact, thus printing on the material itself the design provided on the surface of the support, which now acts as a mold or stamp.

Due to this action a surface design is obtained at the same time as an increase in the strength of the material, thus providing a decorative material for use particularly as a covering for floors, ceilings and walls. It will be understood, however, that it is possible to provide the textile surface with ornamental motifs independently of the action of the needles and, for this purpose, the single support 2 without the needles, is heated and pressed on the material.

It is also possible to interconnect two or more layers of textile material, for example, in the form of tiles, by introducing the plurality of heated needles simultaneously into two or more layers of superimposed textile material.

In order to produce a covering having particularly ornamental features the pieces or strips of material, for example, in the form of tiles -5, 6 n of various colors, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 of the attached drawings, before they they are placed in position and during and after the phase of treatment according to the above described process, are subjected to a cutting action to remove from each of them at least one sections 8-9 or like dimensions, so as to produce spaces or recesses of the same shape in each element.

The section removed from each element or tile is interchanged with the removed section of another element or tile of different color so that each of said elements comprises a section or part which previously formed part of another element or tile. In such manner it is possible to obtain coverings formed by a plurality of elements of material having a high degree mechanical stability connected together by interchange of parts previously removed from the elements themselves and having different colors.

Every piece or strip or each element in the form of a tile 5, 6 and so on, has an adhesive backing 10 necessary for retaining the elements in position.

A similar result may be obtained by interchanging halves of tiles of difiYerent color and finally obtaining various ornamental motifs, or by locating in the recess defined by the hollowing out of each element a portion of suitable shape obtained from material of a different color.

What is claimed is:

1. A process for producing synthetic fiber textile materials that are suitable for covering floors, ceilings or walls, said process comprising the steps of heating a plurality of needles to a predetermined temperature and then passing the heated needles through selected portions of the synthetic fiber textile material whereby the synthetic fibers in contact with the heated needles are melted and fused together.

2. The process in accordance with claim 1 wherein the needles are mounted on an ornamentally patterned support and further including the steps of heating the support and then applying the heated support to the synthetic fiber textile material whereby the pattern on the support fuses selected portions of the material to thereby print the pattern thereon.

3. The process in accordance with claim 1 wherein there is included heated cutting means and further including the step of selectively cutting the synthetic fabric textile material by applying the heated cutting means thereto.

4. The process is accordance with claim 1 wherein there are a plurality of superimposed layers of the synthetic fiber textile material and further including the step 4 of passing the heated needles through all the layers to thereby fuse the layers to each other.

References Cited CARL D. QUARFORTH, Primary Examiner G. G. SOLYST, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

